Duet in Heaven | Mujahid & Zakiyyah

Duet in Heaven by Mujahid & Zakiyyah

Mujahid:

Let’s wear the garb of poethood again
Since we’re finally in God’s villa
Having paid no heeds to beckoning apples
To whispers of winds that stray souls
Let’s knit metaphors for the beauties
Flowing around in these orchards
Let’s poemify these landscapes
Of enchantment

Zakiyyah:

Let’s show God our poetry
And say our new names
As we walk through the market
With beads to alarm the ducks we’re here
Soon it’ll be night all through

Mujahid:

Let’s record God’s silhouettes in his shrine
Smoky with incense in hearths made from
Embers of the moon
As we ride through the honeyed alleys
And cross canyons of pearls
Before the day breaks

Zakiyyah:

Let’s forgive the dates we have received
And pay no attention as they sing
We’ve blown whistles on the curtain
To bring us milk from beneath our bed.
Say a poem and ring the maid’s earring.

Mujahid Ameen Lilo, a Nigerian teen author, is a freshman at the department of English and Literature, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His works have appeared in The Lagos Review, The Nigeria Review, Ebedi Review, Kalahari Review, Daily Trust, Blueprint, Praxis and others. He was Artist of the Month with Yasmin Elrufai Foundation, September 2019. Lilo won The Wole Soyinka Essay Competition. He is the 2nd place winner of The Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2020, the largest prize for teen authors in Nigeria. He also won the BUK Creative Writers’ Poetry Contest.
A recipient of the National HIASFEST Star Prize 2021 awarded to the most progressive teen author in Nigeria, Mujahid was a panelist at Lagos Book and Art Festival 2020 and guest at PIN 5th Anniversary and Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival.

Zakiyyah Dzukogi is a 16 year old teen author and a member of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation from Himma International College. Her first work is a book of verses published when she was 10 years old (My Book of Poems). Her new unpublished poetry collection is titled CARVED which won the 2nd position in the maiden edition of Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors, 2020. She was the winner of the December 2019 edition of Splendors of Dawn Poetry Contest. She has her works published or are forthcoming in Upwrite Nigeria, Artmosterrific chapbook, the Nigeria Review, INNSAEI Journal, Konya Shamsrumi. She has featured in many Zoom panels discussing poetry including Red Eyes Development Initiative, PIN, 16 days for 16 poets etc.

Featured image by Biel Morro, Unsplash

SAI Sabouke
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Sai Sabouke is a writer living in New Bussa, Nigeria. He’s a dervish who sees Sufism, history and language as formidable tools for society regeneration. His writing has appeared in Praxis Magazine Online and Agbowo. Sabouke loves beans, coffee and dreams of roasting the entrails of vultures.